Time to set your spread out: I like to start with a whole blue. I let it out roughly 90 feet from the boat, tie on the balloon and send her out about a hundred yards. I usually set that one on an 80 so I have enough beef to set the hook with all that line and potential stretch out there.
My next long one is a whole fillet, set about the same distance from the balloon and run about 75 yards from the boat also on an 80.
The plug bait gets let down deeper, 150 feet from the balloon and 60 yards from the boat - again on the 80.
I run a weighted mack off a 50 rig about 100 feet from the balloon with about 6 to 8 ounces on this deep bait and she gets set maybe 40 to 50 yards from the boat.
A strip fillet is run about 40 yards from the boat flat. Another mack with no weight is run just about 30 feet from the boat for that one that sneaks up.

Chumming: Everybody's favorite subject!… Some talk about using lots of it or scattering it all over or whatever. Here's my take… I run my chum so it reaches down the line of my baits. I use just enough to draw attention to us. I don't want my baits competing with it to entice the mako. I want it to draw his attention, not choke him. I've seen some in a too heavy slick just get mesmerized or confused by so much junk out there.
My analogy goes something like this…. Walk into a bar room. Some one is smoking a cigar at the far end. From a distance it doesn't smell bad. Get closer it still smells ok. Closer yet though and it starts to get overpowering. Up close it makes you want to gag, burns your eyes and is a turn off… For me less is more. Just enough to get their attention let the baits do the real calling.
For chum, I love bunker, good fresh ground that was flash frozen fresh. I do hand grind some bluefish and freeze in Ziploc's to drop in a fine mesh bag and sweeten the slick some. Another one I like is fresh filleted bluefish racks hung over the side. Keep an eye on them because they will often draw a sneaky one all the way in and you're not there trying to feed them racks. That close mack can be used for a pitch bait…

Now you're fishing… The reels are in free spool with the clicker on… You're watching the slick and a balloon starts moving… Me, I treat every bite like a mako… Let him take it… I give fully six seconds of feed, at times even more. Only when they are headed away do I throw the reel up to strike. On the 50 rigs I'm running 15 pounds and on the 80's about 20 pounds. Sometimes I may actually go up on the button or just past just for the set up. I wind as tight as I can til I get nothing against the drag and then I start swatting… I'll swat… reel swat, reel swat, and reel maybe as many as six or seven times until the fish gets the message that he's hooked. Not all makos launch on impact. Some have a bad habit of swimming right to the boat. These are the ones that worry me.
Clear your other stuff out of the way but leave the chum in. Rule one for chumming - Don't bust the slick!!!!!! I see that some guys run away from the fish on the strike. I don't do it. Bad things happen far from the boat. Things get slack. Keep them close. That doesn't mean drill them with a flyer in the first minutes… Wear them out… For that reason I seldom back down on one. I find that one that has fought it out all the way to the boat is usually a bit tamer than one I just crawled all over…
Determine whether you will be releasing or killing as soon as you can. If you're going to kill have the flyer tied off and gloves out… Next figure out where you feel most comfortable taking the fish and that's where you need to work him to. Don't let him dictate where you take him. Too much bad stuff can happen too quickly if you don't have him laid up just right…
My flyer is set to release hard. At about 150klbs of pull. Not impossible but hard. It is tied off short, leaving no room for the fish to get up a head of steam to pull that hook and throw it back at you, no scope to allow him to jump. Short… Just past as far as my mate can reach. Short! Got it?
Me, I want him in the port corner. My mate mans the gaff all the way in the corner. I stand to the right of the angler and once the wind-on makes a wrap on the spool I have him start backing up. Once that wire reaches my hand it's all about commitment. I both pull and roll the fish on its side. My mate and I have it to a science. No wild flailing shot. I lay the fish into a spot; my mate lays that gaff over that shoulder, and just rears back and plants it in the third gill! The vitals are all there. As that fish comes tight that hook finds its way through all the important wiring and when just right will even sever its spinal column.
If you're going to shoot him, this is the time. From about three inches away dead center behind the eyes and even with about the first gill… Unload the gun so there are no live rounds left to be a problem later.
In quick succession have a second gaff ready to lift the tail and put on a tail line. I use a section of 1/4-inch coated stainless held to a rope with a quick clip. Simply open the loop and run over the tail. Come up tight and cleat it off so that as you drift water will run backwards through its gills.
Do not boat him til its go home time…and be careful when you do bring him aboard. They never really die. I shove a five gallon bucket over their face and tie it to the pec fins to hold it in place. Once in the boat I retie them on the cleats so they have no wiggle room…